Kenner murder suspect arrested

Bobbie Joe Hulsey's last john was the one who killed her, Kenner police said Thursday.

Rony Omar Arias Chavarria, 34, told investigators that he met the 21-year-old prostitute for sex at a motel, took her back to the automobile body shop where he both works and lives, then choked her, Police Chief Steve Caraway said. Less than 24 hours later, a grass-cutter found her body about 20 yards from the body shop in a densely weeded lot in the 2400 block of Helena Street.

Police booked Chavarria with second-degree murder Wednesday night.

But they are not sure of his name, for it is the third one he has given police, Caraway said. He gave others when he was booked Aug. 13 with a burglary of a doctor's office in Kenner and when investigators first picked him up for questioning in Hulsey's death, Caraway said.

Still, police are confident that the suspect is a Honduran who moved seven years ago to the United States and has been in Louisiana for two to three months, after stays in Atlanta, Miami and Texas, Caraway said. He said Chavarria is in the United States illegally.

No one could be reached Thursday at the body shop, identified by a sign as Medina's One Stop, on Tifton Street.

Chavarria's motive for killing Hulsey apparently was something that happened during sex, Caraway said, but said he couldn't go into details.

The autopsy is not complete, but police think the cause of death was strangulation, Caraway said.

Hulsey died barely three weeks after she was released from the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women at St. Gabriel, where she served a sentence for a 2006 conviction for possession of a stolen car. She was on probation for a 2006 arrest for possessing crack cocaine and also had been convicted of prostitution in 2004. All her arrests were in Metairie.

Caraway said the suspect and his victim met for sex at the former Days Inn in the 1300 block of Veterans Memorial Boulevard, a motel that has been a cause of almost daily frustration for police.

"The building has been very run down" and is often used for prostitution, he said. "It's the source of a lot of police calls for service."

He said he is working with the City Council and Code Enforcement Department to address issues there.

"It's a health hazard, " he said. "It's a safety issue."

The motel manager, Sylva Ruggiero, though on the job since only the beginning of September, said she is working hard to improve the property. She said it is no longer a Days Inn but a Studio Lodge.

"I'm in the process right now of trying to fix this location, " she said. She said many of the motel's employees live there and also are concerned about it.

"We're trying our very best to turn this facility around, " she said.

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Mary Sparacello can be reached at msparacello@timespicayune.com or (504) 467-1726.